Tag: Italy

DHL becomes official express and logistics partner for IMG's Fashion Weeks worldwide

Posted by | Jan 11, 2008 | |

DHL will become the official express and logistics partner for IMG’s Fashion Weeks around the world, a series of prestigious shows produced and/or represented by IMG Fashion in ten countries spanning four continents each year. Following a year working with IMG Fashion in the U.S. market, DHL is now increasing its relationship as the official international express and logistics partner of these events.

First in its lineup of events will be the Milano Moda Uomo, held from 12 – 15 January, 2008, in Italy and then at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin that will take place from Jan. 27 – 31 January. Other shows will continue throughout the year. DHL will use these events to strengthen its business penetration with the fashion, apparel and retail industries.

Maintaining a partnership with many well known fashion labels and top brands of the apparel industry, the logistics experts at DHL have been working for years to develop tailor-made transport solutions that address the latest trends in the fashion world and meet the specific needs of individual customers. DHL’s presence in more than 220 countries and territories ensures that the creations of international designers arrive at major fashion shows right on time.

At the beginning of 2007, DHL and IMG Fashion reached an agreement that made the company the official express and logistics partner for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Weeks in New York, Los Angeles and Miami. This partnership is now being expanded around the world.

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Italy’s “safe” postal bank ready to float

Posted by | Jan 11, 2008 | |

Now might not be a great time to launch a financial services stock, but Italy’s national postal service — led by its booming banking unit — is gearing up for a float.

When that happens depends on the government, but the company — emboldened by a foray into financial services that turned it around from a loss-making bureaucracy — is already rivalling more obviously sophisticated institutions for capital.

“At the moment, we are working as if at any moment we would be asked to become public,” Chief Executive Massimo Sarmi told Reuters in an interview.

Having rewritten its history as a lethargic administration that could barely be trusted to deliver a letter in time, the post office was valued this year by investment banks at as much as 15 billion euros, said Sarmi. He declined to say which banks had provided the estimate.

That would make it Italy’s third-largest retail bank by market value at current share prices and is 50 percent higher than the estimated value Sarmi cited for the postal group more than a year ago.

And while billions have been wiped off banks’ market value globally by their loans to ‘subprime’ borrowers, analysts say the post office — which in a float would offer shares to both domestic and foreign investors — is a banking story that has succeeded by betting on the simple and safe.

Key to Poste Italiane’s business model has been a strategy of using its 14,000 outlets across Italy to offer bank accounts and loans, exploiting its reputation as a conservative player that has catered to pensioners and families for decades

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GLS France: strong growth in export volumes

Posted by | Jan 7, 2008 | |

GLS France recorded a 25 pct growth in export shipments sent to Europe last year further strengthening its cross-border structures and enhancing European interchange.

From Paris and regions bordering on Germany, export volumes rose by 46 pct compared to previous year, the parcels firm said in a statement. It did not release any total figures for volumes or revenues.

GLS said the export parcels are mainly destined for countries bordering on France like Germany, Belgium and Italy. The majority of parcels are exported to Germany (23 pct), Belgium (20 pct), Italy (1 pct), UK (13 pct) and Spain (11 pct).

GLS France said it expected this growth to continue and would continue to optimise its tools and processes to boost this development. For example, in April 2007 it established a direct connection ensuring 24-hour delivery from Paris to Belgium.

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Hermes Logistik eyes acquisition in Spain

Posted by | Jan 4, 2008 | |

Hermes Logistik is considering an acquisition in Spain and potentially elsewhere to strengthen its European B2C network, according to the company’s management.

Managing director Hanjo Schneider told the Deutsche Verkehrs-Zeitung (DVZ) that in Spain the Otto Group subsidiary was seeking “a solution in the next 12 – 18 months”. The Spanish B2C market is currently at an early stage of development, according to experts.

Hermes currently covers five countries, representing about 85 pct of the European B2C market, through its own network, Schneider said. The UK and France are served by Otto Group subsidiaries Parcelnet and Mondial Relay, while Hermes started operations in Austria in summer 2007.

In Italy, Hermes bought a 30 pct holding in Porta a Porta, which is majority-owned by Swiss Post, in October 2007. The Swiss postal group, however, might be prepared to split off the Italian company’s parcels distribution business, and sell it to Hermes completely, whilst retaining the mail and logistics activities, the DVZ reported.

Hermes currently uses partners to deliver to other European destinations. TNT covers the Benelux area, Swiss Post covers Switzerland, and DPD is used for all other markets.

French sister company Mondial Relay last year announced plans to expand into Belgium, Spain and Portugal, while British operator Parcelnet grew with the acquisition of the Redcats courier network last spring.

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Italy's post office

Posted by | Jan 4, 2008 | |

Now might not be a great time to launch a financial services stock, but Italy’s national postal service — led by its booming banking unit — is gearing up for a float.

Having rewritten its history as a lethargic administration that could barely be trusted to deliver a letter in time, the post office was valued this year by investment banks at as much as 15 billion euros, said Sarmi. He declined to say which banks had provided the estimate.

That would make it Italy’s third-largest retail bank by market value at current share prices and is 50 percent higher than the estimated value Sarmi cited for the postal group more than a year ago.

And while billions have been wiped off banks’ market value globally by their loans to ‘subprime’ borrowers, analysts say the post office — which in a float would offer shares to both domestic and foreign investors — is a banking story that has succeeded by betting on the simple and safe.

Key to Poste Italiane’s business model has been a strategy of using its 14,000 outlets across Italy to offer bank accounts and loans, exploiting its reputation as a conservative player that has catered to pensioners and families for decades.

In 2006, about 67 percent of Poste Italiane’s revenue came from ventures outside mail.
“It’s not an exciting business but it’s profitable,” said Vetulli.

Poste Italiane has joined a broader trend of postal groups diversifying out of the low-margin mail business into more lucrative segments, as the rise of the Internet and email challenge the concept of traditional mail.

With banking also using electronic networks, postal groups have found it relatively easy to branch out — capitalising on numerous outlets that give them a market position other retail operators can only dream of, and an image of reliability.

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